I spent the majority of the rest of that day helping my dad out with his work, and then cooking dinner with mom. She was a brilliant cook, but when I was back in high school I had always sort of preferred dinner at Kendall's house. There was something about it- her mother tended to cook traditional Spanish meals, from paella to tortillas, and don't even get me started on her mom's homemade donuts. All the same, my mother could make an incredible homemade pizza, with our own homegrown tomatoes used as a sauce for the base. After I had helped my mother clean up, I returned to my room where I swiftly fell asleep. For some reason, I always felt more tired in warmer weather, I reminded myself of my cat Heidi- just wanting to sunbathe for hours.

It was a dreamless night.

The next morning I awoke to get ready for the day ahead. I wasn't too sure what it had in store for me, but I supposed there could be some excitement found in unknowing. I put on my necklace- the one with a little book as a pendant. The piece was a gift for my 20th birthday. I had turned 20 last Halloween. It was sort of cool to have my birthday on the same day. It would have been even cooler, though, if my family celebrated Halloween.

Kendall's mother didn't like Halloween either. She thought there was something demonic about it. My parents didn't think this; they just thought that it was another element of how we were enslaved by capitalism. This sort of sentiment had always been strange to me, given the fact that my parents both had their own businesses. Regardless, Kendall and I had always found our own ways to celebrate. This usually involved us getting the bus to a spot in between states where we could go knock on people's doors in demand for sweets. Kendall preferred chocolates; I had always been more of a Skittles kind of girl.

Thinking about Kendall often made me realise something. I did miss her. She just appeared to spend so much time with my brother now that our friendship became somewhat void.

I pushed the thought out of my mind and went to setup the computer my brother had bought for me. See, he could be generous at times. Once I had my own job, I would start returning the favour.

I got to work applying for more jobs, and found one nearby. Shortly thereafter, I checked to see how my book was doing. It had gotten up to about 50,000 reads now, which wasn't bad if I did say so myself.

I wandered downstairs and into the kitchen after writing more for the next chapter, to help my mother out with work for the day.

It was after a while of doing this, that I then realised just how much time had passed. Literal hours. The sky was turning dusky pink, my favourite of its shades, and the sun was setting on the horizon.

My mother walked over to me to place down a chicken wrap in front of me. I could always rely upon her to prepare me the best snacks. I did want to get better at cooking, too, though. As I began to eat up the food before me, my mother heard a ring of our doorbell. I wasn't sure who would want to come around at this time of day, besides Kendall. Even so, it was much later than her usual two hours she spent with my brother every Saturday and Sunday.

Anne soon walked back into the kitchen with a smile upon her face.

"Ally, you have a guest," she said.

"Wait- I have a guest? Did I hear that right?" I questioned. To think I was going to apply for more jobs. I had to be practical about that, though, I could apply for more jobs later. Now, I needed to go and see who was at the door.

"Alright, mom," I said and walked to the front door to find Kendall Amor- my brother's girlfriend and high school best friend 'forever' stood in front of me.

She grinned when she caught sight of me, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"It's late. What are you doing here?" I asked her. To be fair, since she and her mother had moved after her mom's divorce from her dad, it didn't take her long to get to our house. It wasn't exactly a long journey from Anaheim to Orange County.

Kendall looked as though she was trying her best to not look offended in response to my question.

"I wanted to see how my best friend was doing, hello?"

I didn't know whether she meant it.

It was suffice to say Kendall and I hadn't exactly been on speaking terms for some time after she had started dating my brother and absorbed the popularity that came with it. Knowing Kendall, though, she could have become popular all by herself. She was brilliantly beautiful, smart and funny! She had the whole package. Regardless, I could never hold grudges. I had to admit to myself that I had missed her deeply.

Kendall turned to me, then, with a half-smile as she bat her eyelashes at me. I didn't know whether it was intentional or not. Kendall had always been naturally flirty, but even more so after she had started her relationship with my brother, much to his dismay. It was as though her flirty nature was something she didn't even have to think about.

Before Kendall had got with my brother, she had been talk of the school, mostly by popular cheerleaders and members of the dance team who were evidently envious of her.

Despite that, I just returned the expression, smiling back at her. I invited her in, and the two of us headed to the kitchen so that I could fetch us some bowls of ice cream.

"You're such a babe, Ally cat," Kendall said to me with a grin. One thing I would never forget about Kendall: she had the sweetest of sweet teeth.

I went to sit beside her and began to eat some of the heavenly cookie dough dessert before me, savouring the cookie chunk on my tongue for a moment, before I looked towards Kendall again. My chest fluttered a little as her eyes drifted to me for a moment, prior to them returning back to the true love of her life before her- ice cream. Admittedly, it felt strange to be so close to her after watching from the side lines for months where she had spent so much time with my brother, but it was also kind of nice to have her around again.

"This ice cream is so good, right?" I asked her.

"The best," she agreed.

"So, are you going to go and talk with Jake in a moment?" I inquired.

Kendall gave a smile, but there was something else in her expression. It was fleeting, though, as she replied, "I will soon. I actually wanted to come over here to talk to you, though, Ally," she told me.

"You did?" I asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, I did," she said, her eyes warmed for a second.

"Well, I'm all done," I said, placing the silver spoon back down in my bowl.

"Ditto," Kendall smiled. "Oh ice cream, how I have missed you," she said, which caused me to smirk in amusement. It was sort of sad, though, too. Kendall modeled on occasion and as a consequence of that, she was regularly placed on low-carb, high-depression diets. It could never be me. "I've missed you too, though," Kendall said.

I felt my cheeks warm a little.

"Want to come to my room to continue our conversation?" I asked.

"Yeah girly," Kendall said with enthusiasm.

So, the two of us headed up the staircase and went to sit in my room. Kendall squished herself down on my bed among some cushions, meanwhile I took the chair near my desk.

"It's late, Ally. Come here," she said.

She used to say similar things when we had sleepovers when we were kids. The two of us would just lie under the glow-in-the-dark stars I had attached to my ceiling. As much as I may not have wanted to admit it, the stars were still there.

Kendall chuckled as she looked towards them.

"That is so cute," she said.

I just went to lie next to her.

"Yeah. Well, they remind me of you," I told her.

Kendall grinned.

"Shush, Ally cat. That is adorable," she said, slightly teasingly.

I sat up then and looked towards her, she sat up next to me. My room was dimly lit, but the two of us sat talking as the ivory moon reminded us of her presence, the glow illuminating both of our faces. I had to admit that it made Kendall look almost ethereal. I had to remind myself that she was actually sat in front of me. I wasn't just dreaming this whole moment.

"Let's go sit on the balcony," Kendall said decisively, and stood up from the bed to walk out onto it.

I followed suit.

The two of us sat down on the bench that was placed on it, and Kendall turned back to me again.

"We were such good friends in school, Ally. I want that again. I want us to get closer this summer," Kendall said.

I smiled, knowing that I wanted that too. I just hoped Kendall would stay true to her pretty words, and wasn't just using the Amor charm on me again.

Kendall had forever been the talkative one out of our pair, so she went on.

"We can hang out...go visit states. I have some modelling money, we could make a real trip of it," she said.

"You could ask one of your modelling friends to go with you," I said.

Kendall rolled her eyes.

"Don't get me wrong, they're nice people. I just would rather that the two of us go," she said, "Of course, this is only hypothetical. I doubt my mother would be so easy going with the idea," Kendall said. "Of course, you're welcome to say no. I don't suppose you've been thinking of me much-"

I chose this as my time to interject, "I did think about you Kendall, all the time. I care about you," I stated.

Kendall looked as though she was about to reply. Before she could, though, my brother knocked at the door that led out to the balcony.

"Hey," he said, glancing in Kendall's direction with a gentle half-smile.

Kendall smiled back. She appeared to cling onto hope like you would cling onto a new puppy. Sometimes I had to wonder whether she truly liked Jake, or whether she was just wrapped up in what being with him meant for her. Then I reminded myself that was sort of mean to even consider. He was my brother. I should have been happy for him. I just wished when they first started dating that I could have had some sort of warning, like "Hey, Ally, you know your best friend Kendall, right? Well, she's going to date your brother. You probably won't see much of her now. Sorry." Unfortunately, no such worry existed.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah, just spending some time with Ally," Kendall replied with a smile.

"Alrighty then," my brother said, "I suppose I'll talk to you soon?"

"In a while, crocodile," Kendall said.

Jake gave a nod, and left the two of us.

"I could use a midnight snack," Kendall said.

"At eight p.m." I asked her with a small smirk.

She just met my gaze.

"Let me live, Ally," she joked.

Heeding her wishes, I went to get some cookies for Kendall and I before she headed home. However, my freakishly tall brother moved the box unfortunately high out of reach for my 5'3 form. I sighed. Oh brother, literally.

It was a good thing that I could be thoughtful.

"I'll make you some more cookies if you give me the pack back," I told him. I cared enough about Kendall to get her the cookies in the first place, right? I deserved them.

My brother moved them a little more out of my way once I stood on my tiptoes. He seemed determined to annoy me, but he was also more determined to get his work done.

He gave a gentle chuckle, and then passed me the box.

"Merci," I said, and headed back to my room. I found that Kendall had moved from the balcony when I got back there.

"I'll be a moment, I should probably talk to Jake," she said.

I tried to not look too discontented by it as I watched her step outside my room for a moment to talk to him.

Kendall laughed and smiled as she spoke with Jake. She seemed to radiate personality and individuality in even the smallest features- the curve of her smile, the musical tones of her giggles.

Several moments passed by, and then she returned to me.

"I'm really sorry, Ally cat, but I should probably get home. My mother still enforces curfew," Kendall stated with an eye-roll. Obviously, after Kendall had gotten with Jake, she didn't tend to abide by this curfew. However, she didn't want to annoy her mother too much. She wandered over to grab me into a swift hug then, and then took a cookie, biting into it. She winked and began to walk away.

The two of us headed back downstairs and to the front door. Kendall stepped over the threshold so she was back outside. She turned back to me for a moment and gave a flutter of her fingers.

"See you soon, Kendall," I said.

"Later Ally-gator," she replied with a sweet smile, before walking back to her car in the night.